Deipnosophistae

But those men do not act wisely who represent and describe Bacchus in their statues or pictures, and who also lead him through the middle of the market-place on a waggon, as if he were drunk; for, by so doing, they show the beholders that wine is stronger than the god. And I do not think that even a good and wise man could stand this. And if they have represented him in this state because he first showed us the use of wine, it is plain that for the same reason they should always represent Ceres as reaping corn or eating bread. And I should say that Aeschylus himself erred in this particular; for he was the first person (and not Euripides, as some people say,) who introduced the appearance of drunken people into a tragedy. For in his Cabiri he introduces Jason drunk. But the fact is, that the practices which the tragedian himself used to indulge in, he attributed to his heroes: at all events he used to write his tragedies when he was drunk; on which account Sophocles used to reproach him, and say to him,

O Aeschylus,[*](Schlegel gives a very different interpretation to this story. He says—In Aeschylus the tragic style is as yet imperfect, and not unfrequently runs into either unmixed epic or lyric. It is often abrupt, irregular, and harsh. To compose more regular and skilful tragedies than those of Aeschylus was by no means difficult; but in the more than mortal grandeur which he displayed, it was impossible that he should ever be surpassed, and even Sophocles, his younger and more fortunate rival, did not in this respect equal him. The latter, in speaking of Aeschylus, gave a proof that he was himself a thoughtful artist;— Aeschylus does what is right, without knowing it.' These few simple words, exhaust the whole of what we understand by the phrase, powerful genius working unconsciously. This is the comment of a man of real sense, learning, taste, and judgment.—Dramatic Literature, p. 95. (Bohn's Standard Library.))

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even if you do what you ought, at all events you do so without knowing it;

as Chamæleon tells us, in his treatise on Aeschylus. And they are ignorant people who say that Epiharmus was the first person who introduced a drunken man on the stage, and after him Crates, in his Neighbours. And Alcæus the lyric poet, and Aristophanes the comic poet, used o write their poems when they were drunk. And many other men have fought with great gallantry in war when they were drunk. But among the Epizephyrian Locrians, if any one drank untempered wine, except by the express command of his physician for the sake of his health, he was liable to be punished with death, in accordance with a law to that effect passed by Zalericus.

And among the people of Massilia there was a law that the women should drink water only. And Theophrastus says, that to this day that is the law at Miletus. And among the Romans no slave ever drank wine, nor any free woman, nor any youth born of free parents till he was thirty years of age. And Anacreon is very ridiculous for having referred all his poems to the subject of drunkenness; for, owing to this, he is found fault with as having in his poems wholly abandoned himself to effeminacy and luxury, as the multitude are not aware that while he wrote he was a sober and virtuous man, who pretended to be a drunkard, when there was no necessity at all for his doing so.

And men who are ignorant of the power of wine, say that Bacchus is the cause of madness to men; in saying which they abuse wine in a very senseless manner. On which account Melanippides says—

1. All men have detested water
2. Who did not before have wine;
3. And though some have enjoy'd their cups,
4. Others have turn'd to ravings wild.

And Aristotle, in his treatise on Drinking, says,

If the wine be moderately boiled, then when it is drunk, it is less pt to intoxicate; for, as some of its power has been boiled away, it has become weaker.

And he also says, "Old men become drunk more quickly on account of the small quantity of natural warmth which there is in them, and also of the weak ness of what there is. And again, those who are very young get drunk very quickly, on account of the great quantity of natural warmth that there is in them; for, in consequence, they are easily subdued by the warmth proceeding from the wine which is added to their natural warmth. And some of the brute beasts are also capable of becoming intoxicated; such as pigs when they are filled with the husks of pressed grapes; and the whole race of crows, and of dogs, when they have eaten of the herb called cenussa: and the monkey and the elephant get intoxicated if they drink wine; on which account they hunt monkeys and crows when the former have been made drunk with wine, and the latter with œnussa.

1. But to drink unceasingly—

as Crobylus says, in his Woman who deserted her Husband—

1. Can have
2. No pleasure in it, surely; how should it,
3. When it deprives a living man of power
4. To think as he should think? and yet is thought
5. The greatest blessing that is given to man.

And Alexis, in the revised edition of his Phrygian, says—

1. If now men only did their headaches get
2. Before they get so drunk, I'm sure that no one
3. Would ever drink more than a moderate quantity:
4. But now we hope t' escape the penalty
5. Of our intemperance, and so discard
6. Restraint, and drink unmixed cups of wine.

And Aristotle says, that the wine called the Samagorean wine was so strong that more than forty men were made drunk with a pint and a half of it after it had been mixed with water.

Democritus having said this, and having drunk, said,— Now if any one can gainsay any of these statements let him come forward: and then he shall be told, as Evenus says—

1. That may be your opinion; this is mine.

But I, since I have now made this digression about the mix- tures of the ancients, will resume the thread of my original discourse where I let it drop; considering what was said by Alcæus the lyric poet. For he speaks, somewhere or other, in this way—

1. Pour out, in just proportion, one and two.

For in these words some people do not think that he is alluding to the mixture of wine and water at all; but that, being a moderate and temperate man, he would not drink more than one cyathus of pure wine, or perhaps, at the most, two. And this is the interpretation given to the passage by Chameleon of Pontus, who was ignorant how fond of wine Alcæus had been. For this poet will be found to have been in the habit of drinking at every season and in every imaginable condition of affairs. In winter he speaks thus—

1. Now the storm begins to lower,
2. And Jove descends in heavy snow,
3. And streams of water stand congeal'd
4. In cruel ice: let's drive away
5. The wintry cold, and heap up fire,
6. And mingle with unsparing hand
7. The honied cup, and wreathe our brows
8. With fragrant garlands of the season.

And in summer, he writes—

1. Now it behoves a man to soak his lungs
2. In most cool wine; for the fierce dogstar rages,
3. And all things thirst with the excessive heat.

And in spring he says—

1. Now does the flowery spring return,
2. And shed its gifts all o'er the land;

and he continues—

1. Come then, my boy, and quickly pour
2. A cup of luscious Lesbian wine.

And in his misfortunes he sings—

1. One must not give one's thoughts up wholly
2. To evil fortune; for by grieving
3. We shall not do ourselves much good.
4. Come to me, Bacchus; you are ever
5. The best of remedies, who bring
6. Us wine and joyous drunkenness.

And in his hours of joy he says—

1. Now is the time to get well drunk,
2. Now e'en in spite of self to drink,
3. Since Myrsilus is dead at last.

And, giving some general advice, he says—

1. Never plant any tree before the vine.

How, then, could a man who was so very devoted to drinking be a sober man, and be content with one or two cups of wine? At all events, his very poem, says Seleucus, testifies against those people who receive the line in this sense. For he says, in the whole passage—

1. Let us now drink,—why put we out the light?
2. Our day is but a finger: bring large cups,
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3. Fili'd with the purple juice of various grapes;
4. For the great son of Semele and Jove
5. Gave wine to men to drive away their cares.
6. Pour on, in just proportion, one and two,
7. And let one goblet chase another quickly
8. Out of my head.

In which words he plainly enough intimates that his meaning is, that one cup of wine is to be mixed with two of water.

But Anacreon likes his liquors stronger still; as is shown by the verses in which he says—

1. Let the cup well be clean'd, then let it hold
2. Five measures water, three of rosy wine.

And Philetærus, in his Tereus, speaks of two measures of water to three of wine. And he speaks thus,—

1. I seem to have drunk two measures now of water,
2. And only three of wine.

And Pherecrates, in his Corianno, speaks even of two measures of water to four of wine, and says—

1. A. Throw that away, my dear; the fellow has
2. Given you such a watery mixture.
3. B. Nay rather, 'tis mere water and nought else.
4. A. What have you done?—in what proportions,
5. You cursed man, have you this goblet mix'd?
6. B. I've put two waters only in, my mother.
7. A. And how much wine?
8. B. Four parts of wine, I swear.
9. A. You're fit to serve as cupbearer to the frogs.

And Ephippus, in his Circe, says—

1. A. You will find it a much more prudent mixture,
2. To take three parts of one, and four of th' other.
3. B. That's but a watery mixture, three to four.
4. A. Would you, then, quite unmix'd your wine prefer?
5. B. How say you?

And Timocles speaks of half and half in his Conisalus,—

1. And I'll attack you straight with half and half,
2. And make you tell me all the truth at once.

And Alexis, in his Dorcis, or the Caressing Woman, says—

1. I drink now cups brimming with love to you,
2. Mixed in fair proportions, half and half.

And Xenarchus, or Timocles, in his Purple, says—

1. By Bacchus, how you drink down half and half!

And Sophilus, in his Dagger, says,—

1. And wine was given in unceasing flow,
2. Mix'd half and half; and yet, unsatisfied,
3. They ask'd for larger and for stronger cups.

And Alexis, in his play entitled The Usurer, or Liar, says—

1. A. Don't give him wine quite drown'd in water, now;—
2. Dost understand me? Half and half, or nearly:
3. That's well.
4. B. A noble drink: where was the land
5. That raised this noble Bacchus by its flavour,
6. I think he came from Thasos.
7. A. Sure 'tis just
8. That foreigners should foreign wines enjoy,
9. And that the natives should drink native produce.

And again, in his Supposititious Son, he says—

1. He drank and never drew his breath, as one
2. Would quaff rich wine, mix'd half and half with care.

And Menander, in his Brethren—

1. Some one cried out to mingle eight and twelve,
2. Till he with rivalry subdued the other (κατέσεισε).

And the verb κατασείω was especially used of those who fell down from drinking, taking its metaphor from the shaking down fruit from the tree.

And Alexis, in his Man cut off, says—

1. He was no master of the feast at all,
2. But a mere hangman, Chæreas his name;
3. And when he'd drunk full twenty cups of wine,
4. Mix'd half and half, he ask'd for more, and stronger.

And Diodorus of Sinope, in his Female Flute-player, says—

1. When any one, O Crito, drinks ten cups,
2. Consider, I do beg you, whether he
3. Who never once allows the wine to pass
4. Is in a fit state for discussion.

And it was not without some wit that Lysander the Spartan, as Hegesander relates in his Commentaries, when some vintners sold wine which had been much watered in hi camp, ordered some one to supply it properly tempered, that his men might buy it with less water in it. And Alexis has said something which comes to nearly the same thing, in his Aesop; thus—

1. A. That is a good idea of yours, O Solon,
2. And cleverly imagined, which you have
3. Adopted in your city.
4. S. What is that?
5. A. You don't let men drink neat wine at their feasts.
6. S. Why, if I did, 'twould not be very easy
7. For men to get it, when the innkeepers
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8. Water it ere it comes out of the waggon.
9. No doubt they do not do so to make money,
10. But only out of prudent care for those
11. Who buy the liquor; so that they may have
12. Their heads from every pang of headache free.
13. This now is, as you see, a Grecian drink;
14. So that men, drinking cups of moderate strength,
15. May chat and gossip cheerfully with each other:
16. For too much water is more like a bath
17. Than like a wine-cup; and the wine-cooler
18. Mix'd with the cask, my friend, is death itself.

But to drink to the degree of drunkenness,

says Plato, in his sixth book of the Laws, is neither becoming any- Where—except perhaps in the days of festival of the god who gave men wine for their banquets,—nor is it wholesome: and, above all, a man ought to guard against such a thing who has any thoughts of marriage; for at such a time, above all other times, both bride and bridegroom ought to be in full possession of their faculties; when they are entering upon what is no small change in the circumstances of their life; and also they ought to be influenced by anxiety that their offspring shall be the offspring of parents in the fullest possible possession of all their faculties; for it is very uncertain what day or what night will be the originating cause of it.

And in the first book of his Laws he says—

But respecting drunkenness it may be a question, whether we ought to give way to it as the Lydians do, and the Persians, and the Carthaginians, and the Celtæ, and the Spaniards, and the Thracians, and other nations like them; or whether like you, O Lacedæmonians, one ought wholly to abstain from it. But the Scythians and the Thracians, who indulge altogether in drinking unmixed wine, both the women and all the men, and who spill it all over their clothes, think that they are maintaining a very honourable practice, and one that tends to their happiness. And the Persians indulge to a great extent in other modes of luxury which you reject; but still they practise them with more moderation than the Scythians and Thracians.

And a great many of the guests were drinking, and putting lumps of meal into their wine, a custom which Hegesander of Delphi mentions. Accordingly Epinicus, when Mnesiptolemus had given a recitation of his history, in which it was written how Seleucus had used meal in his

wine, having written a drama entitled Mnesiptolemus, and having turned him into ridicule, as the comic poets do, and using his own words about that sort of drink, represents him as saying:—

1. Once I beheld the noble king Seleucus,
2. One summer's day, drinking with mighty pleasure
3. Some wine with meal steep'd in it. (So I took
4. A note of it, and show'd it to a crowd,
5. Although it was an unimportant thing,
6. Yet still my genius could make it serious.)
7. He took some fine old Thasian wine, and eke
8. Some of the liquor which the Attic bee
9. Distils who culls the sweets from every flower;
10. And that he mingled in a marble cup,
11. And mix'd the liquor with fair Ceres' corn,
12. And took the draught, a respite from the heat.

And the same writer tells us that in the Therades islands men mash lentils and pease into meal, instead of ordinary corn, and put that into the wine, and that this drink is said to be better than that in which the meal is mixed.